


Destiny Detour

by lil_1337



Category: The Unusuals
Genre: Angst, Gen, Mention of criminal activity, Mention of sex, mention of drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-03
Updated: 2012-09-03
Packaged: 2017-11-13 11:07:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/502870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_1337/pseuds/lil_1337
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Navin becomes Henry</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destiny Detour

Henry Cole nee Navin Granger was born the son of a preacher and died the father of one. In between the two he was, like most men, both a sinner and a saint. His early years were unremarkable, a well behaved boy who worked hard and earned good grades who could always be counted on to do his chores without fussing. Many hours in church and pious parents taught him early that if he followed the rules and did unto others then God would take care of him and the people he loved. He grew and thrived under the belief he had divine protection until the middle of his tenth year. Then one stormy Sunday morning on the way to church a hit and run driver shattered his world into pieces the size of the safety glass that rained down on him when the windshield exploded.

Navin, the only survivor, was thrust into the foster system like a wounded seal into the middle of a white shark feeding frenzy. The first day of school, his leg still encased in an ankle to hip cast, he lost his lunch to the neighborhood bully along with any desire to be a good boy. If God had abandoned him despite all his efforts then God could go fuck himself. By the time that he was mobile again Navin was well on his way to being a full fledged pre-teenaged delinquent.

From there he bounced around the system until he was sixteen, never staying any place for more than a few months. On the morning after his birthday he landed in the home of Agnes and Mitchell Cole where he would live until he was a legal adult. Mitchell was a police officer and a good man. His influence was long reaching and touched Navin deeply though it took him years to realize it. They were kinder and more understanding than he deserved at the time though they never let him get away with breaking the rules or being disrespectful. Despite their best efforts when Navin left the Coles' house on his eighteenth birthday the well behaved, scared little boy who had entered the system had been fully transformed into a sullen, worldly wise, young adult.

He hit the streets running, egged on by his new friend and mentor, Frank Lutz. Frank was a few years older than Navin and was well acquainted with the ins and outs of surviving on the street. He knew where the fun times could be found as long as you didn't mind breaking a few laws and commandments. As it turned out, Navin didn't. Before long his resume was an impressive list of petty crimes, narcotics use and sexual experimentation.

For Navin meeting Frank was a turning point in his life. Before Navin hadn't had much interest in crime outside of buying narcotics and the occasional petty theft, but Frank taught him the easiest way for a kid with no skills and no motivation to make money was to steal it. With the words of his parents, both biological and foster, ringing in his ears Navin set out to do just that. Knowing they would be disappointed and angry just fueled the fire in his stomach. Any guilt he felt was washed away in a haze of drugs and sex.

Stealing the armored car was a fluke. A moment of pure stupidity or genius born of boredom and poor impulse control. If the keys hadn't been in the ignition he would have kept walking and his life would have gone on the way it was in a never ending quest for drugs, sex, food and a reasonably safe place to sleep. Fate, however had other plans for Navin and not only were the keys in it, but the engine started up on the first try. Navin's guardian angel must have been on the job that day because he made it through town and out to the quarry without being seen.

The explosion from the third stick of dynamite he found in the truck blew it into the quarry and made his ears ring like the bells from a church steeple. Laced through the sound he heard a voice that quietly reminded him he had a better destiny than the one was currently following. A spiritual reality check delivered with a nitro glycerin kick. In that moment the Navin melted away, morphing into Henry Cole like a river returning back to its bed when the flood waters recede.


End file.
